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Father dies trying to stop son's hydrogen sulfide gas suicide

35 Comments

Another two lives were claimed in the long line of hydrogen sulfide gas suicides that began to erupt earlier this year, this time a 13-year-old boy and his father, who was attempting to rescue the boy, police said Saturday. Police said they received a call from a woman at around 5:30 a.m. on Friday reporting that her son had collapsed. Emergency crews rushed to the scene and found the boy and his father, 46, unconscious in the home.

According to police reports, the boy had awoken that morning and said he was going to take a shower. After some time when the boy didn't come out, his father then went into the bathroom and found a note on the shower door saying "Hydrogen Sulfide Gas In Use." When he opened the door to rescue his son, he also fell unconscious, according to his wife.

Emergency crews said the pair were dead by the time they arrived. In the shower was a bucket containing chemicals to create the gas and a note written by the boy declaring, "I'm too tired to go on living."

© News reports

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35 Comments
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next time someone tries to suggest that suicide is a "noble" or "beautiful" thing to do, please point them in the direction of this news article

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Jesus Christ, there's something really wrong with a society where 13 year olds are claiming to be too tired to go on living while taking their own lives.

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That is soooo sad.

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Between morning club activities, school, afternoon club activities, juku, and then home for late night study time, I can see why they are tired! I feel for some of these children, because they will never know how it feels to be a kid! I always made my kid take at least two day a week off from bukatsu,and never let them go in for the early morning bukatsu, Kids need their rest!

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Juku needs to be cut immediately, but in a land where juku is becoming 'school' while the actual school has become play time, well, that's not going to happen. Gotta cram for the exams if the neighbour is, after all.

On that note, I agree the society is too wound up for it's own good, and you see it from the above 30,000 that off themselves every year, to the random murders across the nation, to the less-than-random murders where people kill their neighbours, parents, kids, or spouses because they were annoyed for a moment. Now this brainless kid in killing himself ALSO killed his dad. Unbelievably stupid and sad.

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Yet another case of bullyicide?

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a note on the shower door saying “Hydrogen Sulfide Gas In Use.”

There could be a good market for these signs. They could be marketed with the "Baby on board" signs.

Quest - Is it bullyicide, societicide or parenticide?
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When he opened the door to rescue his son, he also fell unconscious, according to his wife.

why not try holding your breath.

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the mother called the emergency at 5.30AM, after the father collapse, after he wondered why it took so long for his son to take a shower... what time did this kid had to wake up ?!?!?! he should not be taking his shower at 5am, he should have been sleeping ! i bet he was tired... and not only psychologicly !

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I was thinking the same thing - if a kid of 13 is up at what would have been around 5am taking a shower - no wonder he was tired!

Very sad, and as I said once before recently on another thread where the two 13 year old girls jumped off a car park - what kind of society is it where so many young kids feel like they have no other options?

I feel for the Mother in this case - losing both her son and her husband in one very pointless fell swoop.

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Disillusioned I define bullycide as any suicide caused by Japans bullying culture. So I guess its closer to societicide.

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I was thinking the same thing - if a kid of 13 is up at what would have been around 5am taking a shower - no wonder he was tired!

During this season of the year, the sun is up by 5 am and most people start commuting by that time. RIP little soul and poor dad

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why not try holding your breath.

In the instantaneous rush to rescue, I'm that was not the first thing on the dad's mind. RIP

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The only thing sadder than stories like this are some of the comments that follow.

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How completely horrible! I feel so sorry for this family. May the son and father somehow rest in peace. Time to reflect on our lack of humanity.

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why not try holding your breath - the company I work for builds machines that test for hydrogen sulfide. In the safety training, we are all taught in the even of an H2S leak we are to leave the building. If we see a downed co-worker, we are to ignore it and leave. It's strong stuff, where you have a better chance of going down then saving somebody. Sad story.

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Contrary to some of the ignorant comments here (big surprise) this dad is my Father of the Decade. Being a father I can only only surmise holding his breath was not on his to do list at the moment.

I love the sardonic and mindless comments some can make, showing their true color of charater.

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Who is to say the 'Father of the decade' was not the main reason this kid decided to off himself? If he was such a great parent why did he not realize his 13y/o son was suicidal?

Moderator: Please refrain from making such speculations.

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Who is to say the 'Father of the decade' was not the main reason this kid decided to off himself? If he was such a great parent why did he not realize his 13y/o son was suicidal?

Pure speculation that shows no empathy for the victims here. Obviously, you never have had the experience of a suicide in your family. A potential suicide victim is not necessarily as easy to spot as you would think. Many, especially children, suffer in silence until they pick a date to do the deed.

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ptolemy -- spot on. Bet none of the folks bashing the dad ever raised a teenage boy. I did, and can only find complete sadness in my heart for both these unfortunate victims -- actually three, including the mom.

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I have known a number of people who committed suicide, and in each case it came as a complete shock to their families. Some people are very, very good at hiding their mental state, and also their preparations to commit suicide, right up until the last minute. I have started thinking that this is an incredibly selfish way to commit suicide, as it seems that people who use it take family members and even people in neighboring apartments down with them far too often. Of course the father is going to try to save his son, probably with fatal consequences. And the person who said that most people in Japan are up and commuting by 5am? No, they aren't. I have to leave home at 6 one day a week, and the streets and stations in Tokyo are very quiet at that time. Totally inaccurate comment.

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I agree. "Most people start commuting by 5am"? Utter rubbish. Especially in the case of 13 year old kids.

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Life is getting harder for young ones for sure.

Asians have baths and showers in the mornings and very early sometimes. It is not something unusual.

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Selfish idiot.

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"Most people start commuting by 5am"? Utter rubbish. Especially in the case of 13 year old kids.

Yet another misnomer. The kids will start bukatsu (club) training at 6:30-7:00am and depending on their transport needs of course they will have to be up and in the shower at 5am. This is after being at juku till 10pm, of course. It's pretty easy to understand why so many of these kids just give up. They are not kids! Just tools to keep the education tables turning.

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Well this officially proves that the japanese society is how badly turning into antihuman trends that making these little kids doing such a terrible thing. RIP.

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"Who is to say the 'Father of the decade' was not the main reason this kid decided to off himself? If he was such a great parent why did he not realize his 13y/o son was suicidal?"

That is really an unfair statement. For one, the father may have known the son was having problems and perhaps the father had tried to encourage his son, or perhaps the son was just keeping his problems all bottled up inside and the father had no idea. When you were 13 did you tell your parents all your feelings? I didnt tell mine. I think around 13 teens begin trying to assert their independance from their parents so they dont run to their parents to tell them everytime they have a problem anymore. I know there are exceptions but many teens are like that. We don`t have enough information to make such a harsh judgement call on this father who DID give his life for his son.

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I don't think its just one thing such as selfishness. Life just gets overwhelming, and at that age, a person doesn't think logically about the consequences. Maybe he/she's thinking, "I'll do this, because life has become unbearable;" but why couldn't/can't they think of an alternative action that would also prolong their lives and give them a chance to see a brighter picture than at present? That is the question. I think the 13 year old stage has a lot to do with bullying, pushing, peer presure etc. But now that modern internet instant information system has evolved, kids learn too much about well, just about anything they want to. Remembering back to my teen years, about the ages between 16-18 were the danger period and recreational drugs were rampant in high schools. A star athlete, baseball and basketball player, first team at a very prestigious school got a scholarship to a small college, and perhaps out of lonelieness indulged in his penchant for drugs to his demise. He died at 18.5. I visited his parents within a year, and they were just the most decent, respectable, crushed to the heart people you'd ever could have met. I'm sure its like that for all suicide related families.

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Really tragic. Greater love.

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isthistheend: Suicide is never the answer, it is why it is illegal and against most countries law, I take no pity on anyone that takes their own life, that person is the ultimate quitter and there are far more better way to get attention or help yourself.

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It's really sad...I cant imagine the terror the father went through before losing consciousness himself. When I was 13 years old I was playing SNES and being lazy (Not much has changed I guess) But never considered my life was too horrible to go on. Then again, I understand the pressures and differences in culture. We will never know the circumstances, just the outcome.

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Bet none of the folks bashing the dad ever raised a teenage boy.

My two boys and one girl, all now over 30, never commited suicide, guess that makes me a failure when compared to the hero in this story..

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Perhaps in Japan it may be untoward to criticize the dead, but I find the idea perfectly reasonable. Those remarking on how insensitive such speculation is, are themselves, desensitized to reason. To suggest a lack of empathy indicates selective use of empathy, for failing to empathize with criticism.

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What a terrible story... I hope the wife/mother will be able to cope. Losing a child and husband all at once must be devastating.

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Usually when a person has decided to commit suicide they feel as a weight has been lifted from their backs. "It's over at last" is the feeling. Once a person gets to this level then it is just a matter of time before the deed is done. This could take a few weeks perhaps even up to a year just thinking about death. Then one day a man/woman decides okay this is the day but I'll just take the garbage out first. The feelings are really weird, like balancing over a cliff-edge.

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